Hunting Seal in the Summer

Hunting Seal in the Summer is a guide to hunting one of the most important game animals for Inuit. Advice is given for summertime seal hunting from a boat, including practical information on preparing for the hunt, ensuring boat safety, different kinds of seal and where to find them, skinning the animal, preserving the meat, and safe firearm operation. It also includes information about traditional Inuit hunting beliefs and taboos, and reflections on how to keep the seal population stable and healthy. The book is paired with a link to an online video that contains actual hunting footage and interviews with hunters, Elders, and wildlife officers. An English / Inuktitut tumble.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nunavut Arctic College
• Release date: Jun 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9781897568989

Book preview

Cover: Hunting Seal in the Summer by Hunting Seal in the Summer, Hunter Education Series.

Description

A photograph of a body of blue water. Seals’ heads and bodies emerge from the water, creating white splashes. In the background is a row of low mountains. A grey-blue sky is above. A photograph of a man in a red hat and coat and a woman in a black coat. They each hold a knife in one hand, and a small piece of meat in the other. One of the man’s hands has blood on it, and the woman holds the meat to her mouth. A photograph of a man in a red hat and coat outdoors. He takes aim with a rifle. He wears a glove on the hand that holds the barrel of the gun. A photograph of a grey motorboat on blue water. 2 men stand at the front of the boat, and it has 2 motors at the back. In the background is land, some of which is spotted with snow. A photograph of a person in a red winter suit and camouflage hat leaning over a seal carcass. The person cuts the stomach of the seal, from which the skin has been removed. There is blood on the snow beneath them.

Hunting Seal

in the Summer

Logo: Nunavut Arctic College Media.

Published by Nunavut Arctic College Media

www.nacmedia.ca

Box 600, Iqaluit, nu, x0a 0h0

Text copyright © 2016 by Nunavut Arctic College Media

Design and layout by Inhabit Education © 2016 Nunavut Arctic College Media

Photographs by Sean Guistini/Mark Aspland © 2016 Nunavut Arctic College Media

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrievable system, without written consent of the publisher, is an infringement of copyright law.

We acknowledge the participation and support of the Nunavut Research Institute and the Environmental Technology Program at Nunavut Arctic College.

Isbn: 978-1-897568-69-9

Printed in Canada.

Logo: Nunavut Arctic College Media. Logo: Nunavut.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Hunting seal in the summer / edited by William Flaherty.

(Hunter education series)

ISBN 978-1-897568-42-2 (paperback)

1. Sealing--Nunavut. 2. Inuit--Hunting--Nunavut. I. Flaherty, William, 1965-, editor ii. Series: Hunter education series

SH362.H88 2016 639.2’9097195 C2016-903333-3

Hunting Seal

in the Summer

Edited by William Flaherty

Logo: Nunavut Arctic College Media.A photograph of a man in a winter suit and hat. He's at the edge of a boat, and he pulls a seal by the tail from the water. The water has ripples on it. The photograph is all in blue tones.A photograph of a Northern landscape. The lower-third is blue, rippled water. The centre-third is mountains with various amounts of snow on them. The top-third is a cloudy sky.

Publisher’s Note

The photographs in this book are from a seal hunt that took place near Iqaluit, Nunavut, in September 2015. The text is based on interviews with hunters, Elders, conservation officers, wildlife experts, and government representatives.

Please visit www.nacmedia.ca to download video resources to supplement this book, including interviews with hunters and Elders and footage of hunting, skinning, and dressing.

A photograph of a body of blue water covered in ripples. 2 seals’ heads and bodies emerge from the water, creating white splashes around them.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

Preparing for the Hunt

Equipment

Tools

Emergency Supplies

Your Rifle

Choosing a Rifle

Preparing Your Rifle

Preparing Your Boat

Checking the Weather

Studying the Clouds

Considerations for Camping

Tides

Dressing Appropriately

Preparing for Emergencies

Equipment Checklist

Summary

Chapter 2

Understanding the Animal

Background Information about Seals

Species Differences

Size Variations

Other Considerations

How to Locate Seals

Determining Sex and Health

Summary

Chapter 3

Hunting Techniques

Approaching the Animal

Taking the Shot

Preventing the Seal from Sinking

Aiming

Missing a Shot

Firearm Safety

Harpoons, Hooks, and Floats

Using a Harpoon Float

Harpoon Safety

Traditional Inuit Skills

Summary

Chapter 4

After the Hunt

Skinning and Dressing

When to Skin and Dress

The Process

How to Treat the Organs

Parasites and Diseases

Uses for the Animal

Skin

Meat

Traditional Beliefs

Summary

Chapter 5

Reflections on Environmental Stewardship

Summary

Conclusion

Preface

The relationship between people, the land, and animals remains central to Inuit ways of knowing, doing, and being. The Hunter Education Series is intended to help maintain this vital relationship as Northern lifestyles and generational demands shift